


Fill in the Blank

by marklesparkle



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Valentine's Day, bff johnjae shenanigans!, everyone's a stem major except mark. and johnny, i had entirely 2 much fun with this, jjh is dumbass culture and i am jjh, oh! and
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-28 18:13:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15054914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marklesparkle/pseuds/marklesparkle
Summary: In which Jaehyun confesses his feelings for Sicheng with a sticker that reads, "I love you because I'm gay."





	Fill in the Blank

**Author's Note:**

> happy v late bday to my jaebaby ! i meant to originally post this in february but .... life just .... Be Like That Sometimes :/
> 
> also. if any1 cares i wrote this while listening to bazzi's cosmic album (10/10 would recommend!!!!!!!!)
> 
> i based this Loosely on my own study group and friends and college/stem/med experiences sooooooooooooooooo i rlly had a good time writing this!! and Yes i'm working on finishing up told you so i know it's been ages but i had to scrap the original thing i had written bc it was hot garbage (worse than my usual unedited rushed trash) kwkdweoidj IM SORRY
> 
> wedwoiedoiedjeid anyways!!!!!!!!! thank u for reading + enjoy :^)

Johnny is, without a doubt, Jaehyun’s best friend.

He knows that, Johnny knows that, and pretty much the rest of the fucking universe does, too. Which is why he thinks he should be able to _trust_ the older man with maroon hair leisurely spread out like a sloth across his couch as comfortably as if it were his own home. Because friends, especially those in the “best” category, are supposed to give one another good romantic advice, and with Johnny’s impressive track record, Jaehyun feels like there’s no rational reason to _not_ accept this idea with open arms. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain but, _still_. There’s an inkling of doubt at the back of his mind that wants to burst into tears at the mere thought of going through with this and the more time that ticks by the more Jaehyun starts to agree with the more intelligent part of his brain and stop this shit before it actually gets set in motion.

“He’s going to think I’m a moron,” Jaehyun moans, slamming his head down to rest on his arms crossed on the table before him.

Johnny snorts and flips the channel, not paying the other male’s misery any attention. “He already thinks you’re a moron. What’ve you really got to lose?”

 _My self-esteem_ , is what Jaehyun wants to sob out but because of the limited number of stickers they’d purchased he restrains the stinging in his tear ducts and swallows deeply instead. “A lot, actually,” he huffs, cutting his eyes at the make-shift cupid across the room. “I mean, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to write that doesn’t sound either A) gay, or B) creepy.”

Finally acknowledging Jaehyun’s brooding in the most annoying way possible, Johnny gives up on whatever TV program he’d been trying to watch and starts cackling like some sort of ugly witch. He throws his head back far enough to hit the pillow conveniently placed behind him because apparently, his best friend’s emotional turmoil is just that fucking funny. “You _are_ gay, Jaehyun. Everything you say is of the homosexual origin, you fucking clown,” he snorts, clapping his hands. “God, I can see why Sicheng has such a lowly opinion of you already. It’s a shock you’ve made it this far in the system.”

“ _Me_? You’re the asshole who doesn’t even write his own papers,” Jaehyun snips back, reminding them both of the multitude of times Johnny had paid Mark, Jaehyun’s underclassman roommate, to write his American Literature essays. “Mark’s too nice to actually tell you no, I hope you know that.”

Johnny, clearly having lost interest in the conversation at the mention of his own short-comings, sighs deeply. “Is it a crime to employ our younger friend in order to keep him off the streets and out of harm’s way?”

It’s Jaehyun’s turn to laugh now and he does, loudly. He picks his head up off the table and leans back in the wooden chair he’s sitting in until only two of its legs are left on the floor. “I really and truly cannot stand you,” is his response, choosing to not feed into the fire that Johnny’s attempting to start in his very own living room. Mark would have a entire _farm_ if he came home to burns on the rug again. “Anyways,” Jaehyun continues, “let’s get back to what really matters here: me.”

Johnny, in a fit of sympathy, picks himself up off the couch and makes his way towards the dining room table where the blonde and myriad of valentines day trash coexist as one large, pathetic lump. He knows that Jaehyun’s incessant whining won’t stop until he gives in and helps the other, so to skip a few steps in the age-old process, he plops down in the chair across from Jaehyun with his game face on. His purple-toned hair is flat against the back of his skull where he’d been laying on the couch for the last few hours, but he still looks effortlessly handsome, to Jaehyun’s irritation; he thinks Johnny pulls off the messy look a little _too_ well for him to be considered an actual human being and not some long-legged alien freak from another galaxy.

“I’m not the one who’s in love with Sicheng so I really can’t help you with what to say. It’s not rocket science, Jae,” he starts, raking his fingers listlessly through his fringe. He’s currently sporting a deep turquoise sweatshirt that Jaehyun’s almost entirely sure belongs to his boyfriend, Taeyong, because of how figure-fitting the garment is. “Just say what you like about him. Plain and simple.”

Jaehyun drops the chair’s front legs back onto the floor, scrubbing his face tirelessly with his hand. “But I like _everything_ about him. He’s Sicheng,” he pouts.

From across the table Johnny wrinkles his nose in disgust. “I knew you were helpless in the romance department but this is just _sad_ , Jae. So sad,” he shakes his head, mock sympathy dripping from each word. When he speaks next his tone is nothing less than exasperated. “You can’t settle for one thing you like best about him? Not his ‘sparkly eyes’ or ‘sharp jawline’ or ‘above average intelligence?’ I mean, there’s gotta be _something_ you absolutely adore about the dude that isn’t his ability to exist. That’s a little too broad for these stickers.” He picks up a sheet of said stickers in one hand and a pen in the other. “Here, I’ll demonstrate and write one to Taeyong.”

In all of five seconds Johnny finishes his scribbling, capping the pen and peeling the sticker from its sheet then smacking it onto one of the many hearts Jaehyun had spent the afternoon cutting out. It’s a little crooked in the center of the pink construction paper but the boldness of Johnny’s handwriting sends the message pretty clearly. “See? ‘I love you because **I’M GAY!** ’” he reads, grinning stupidly at Jaehyun, whose will to live has drastically plunged within a span of seconds.

There are pinpricks of frustration behind the blonde’s eyes as he slams his head back into his arms. “That’s it, I’m done with you,” he says, picking his head back up. “Either help me or get the fuck out. I’m seeing him _tomorrow_ , Seo; I don’t have time for this buffoonery,” Jaehyun snips. The idea of having to actually go through with this plan in less than twenty-four hours is starting to make him nauseous. Having to even _look_ at Sicheng makes Jaehyun want to flee the country. He’s looking forward to their pathophysiology study session less and less as the minutes tick by.

Johnny rolls his eyes as he sets his shitty valentine back on the table, childishly sticking it amongst the fake flowers in the vase Jaehyun’s mother had left at the start of the semester. “Look, you’re making this _way_ harder than it has to be. Sicheng isn’t going to care what you write, he’s going to care that you finally took emotional laxatives to relieve your love-sick constipation,” he sighs. The mood shifts to something more serious and sincere as he opens his mouth again. “I’m telling you, you could write anything and he’d still hang it on his fridge. He likes you back, Jae, I fucking swear.” He smiles softly above the pile of pink and red paper, wonky hearts, and the blank sheets of stickers Jaehyun had yet to find the nerve to fill out. The gesture comforts the younger, but does nothing to quell his anxiety about the following day. Sicheng is special to Jaehyun; this _has_ to go right.

Since starting university two years ago, Jaehyun has been a big fan of study groups or partners. If he has someone to talk about the material out loud he finds he absorbs the information better than he would if he were to try to memorize the textbook by himself. In his first AP (anatomy and physiology) class, he linked up with Sicheng, his brother, Kun, and another boy named Jungwoo. They studied together weekly and spent the day of their exam in the library chugging coffees and reciting facts from their notes until it was time to buy scantrons for their test.

Among the four of them, Sicheng was the one who understood the material the fastest right off the bat. He’d leave a lecture and actually _understand_ the Greek their professor had spouted for the past three consecutive hours. It awed Jaehyun, who could never grasp anything until he’d written a million note cards, watched ten Khan Academy videos, and read his lecture notes out loud at least once to himself on his off day. Kun was also pretty quick to learning new things and then teaching them back to Jungwoo or Jaehyun, who were about as clueless as ever in those first few months. But, there was something different about the way Sicheng taught him things in comparison to Kun. Jaehyun has a pretty good hunch that his infatuation with the younger man stemmed from his soft smile, doe eyes, or his unyielding patience with Jaehyun and has nothing to do with how fucking smart he is. The thought keeps Jaehyun awake at night.

He and Sicheng have a study not-date set up for tomorrow afternoon without the regularly scheduled company of Kun and Jungwoo. They’re going to meet at their usual booth in the hole-in-the-wall café they’ve been frequenting since their freshman year. It’s not an unusual thing for the two, but because of what Jaehyun knows he has to do, he can’t help but want to take a rain check, even if it means flunking a test (which he hasn’t done _all_ semester, so he knows he can afford it if it really comes down to it.)

Almost as if he’s read Jaehyun’s mind, Johnny snaps his fingers in his friend’s face. His brows are creased as he gives the other a knowing expression. “Don’t do this to yourself, Jaehyun. _Seriously._ Sicheng has a thing for you and everyone knows it. Just choose an adjective and smack a sticker on his forehead tomorrow. You’ll get married, have babies, start scrapbooking— it’ll be _fine_.” With those words of wisdom, the taller male scoots his chair out from under the table and stands up. He yawns, cracks his neck, and pulls his phone out of his pants pocket to check.

“Taeyong wants to go grocery shopping so I’ll catch you later. Tell me how it goes!” Johnny grins and shoots one more thumbs up to his closest friend. “Call me tomorrow night. But, if you don’t, that’s fine, too. I know where you live, Jung,” he teasingly threatens, narrowing his eyes and walking across the kitchen to pocket his keys where they lay on the counter.

Jaehyun sighs, smiling back weakly. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll call you _and_ my therapist tomorrow, I swear.” He turns around in the chair he’s seated in to watch the other take his leave.

Johnny snorts at his place near the front door, turning back around to face Jaehyun one last time. “ _I’m_ your therapist,” he starts. Behind him, he places his hand on the door handle and starts to turn the knob. The door opens but his back is still to the entry way as he uses the other hand to symbolize a phone to his ear. “so I’ll be expecting that call.” He rolls his eyes then finally starts to carry his ridiculously long limbs out of the apartment. Before he closes the door completely, he pokes his head back in once more. “Good luck!” He winks, then slams the door.

The silence in the apartment after he’s gone is stifling for all of ten seconds. Then, Jaehyun’s phone rings and the wooly blanket of quiet surrounding him evaporates like a puddle in July. He clumsily fishes his phone out of the pocket of his jeans to see who could possibly be calling him on a Tuesday afternoon and feels his eyes grow to the size of saucers as he reads the contact name: Sicheng. The color drains from Jaehyun’s face.

“ _Shit_ ,” he curses, abruptly standing up from the table. He grabs the roots of his hair and tugs, feeling a new wave of panic wash over his entire body. He knows he’s running out of time to answer the call before it goes to voicemail so before his brain can register the notion, he puts his fate in God’s hands, swiping ‘answer.’ “Hello?” he asks the other end, sounding breathless from simply standing up.

Sicheng’s answer is immediate and although Jaehyun can’t see him, he can envision the pearly smile that must be lighting up his face. “Hey, Jaehyun, what’s up?” His voice is as deep as the brown in his eyes, nearly activating Jaehyun’s fight-or-flight response. Before he even can answer the question, Sicheng is talking again, his words moving as fast as Jaehyun’s heart is racing. “This is really last minute, but are you available to study tonight? My mom just called and asked me to take Renjun to his doctor’s appointment tomorrow; I don’t want to be crunched for time when we review so I thought moving the date up would be better than rain-checking for later, if that’s okay with you? I mean, if you have plans, that’s perfectly fine, I shouldn’t expect you to drop your life for—” he rambles, completely taking Jaehyun by surprise.

Usually, Sicheng is a man of few words. Sure, he’s adorable and snippy at times, but he’s never as _chatty_ as he is right now. It makes Jaehyun’s anxiety involuntarily bump up because upon hearing the request to reschedule for a sooner time, Jaehyun automatically knows he’s going to agree to whatever Sicheng wants to do. Which also means getting his shitty confession … sticker done in far less time than he anticipated. _Double shit._

“Woah, woah, woah,” Jaehyun laughs, hoping the sound quells the shaking of his voice. “I have nothing better to do tonight, anyways. Johnny ditched me a few minutes ago so you’re welcome to come over whenever you’re ready. I don’t know where Mark is, but I’m sure he won’t mind us hogging the kitchen table for a while,” he promises. Although he’s doing everything in his power to soothe Sicheng’s worries, he’s also fully aware that he’s no where near ready for the other to be anywhere close to their apartment what with the space in front of him filled with wonky construction paper and tacky stickers. Not to mention the mess Johnny left in the living room with the addition of the forever unwashed dishes in the sink that Mark constantly forgets to wash, seeing as he’s home maybe one day out of the week.

To say that Jaehyun’s feeling like a dumbass is quite possibly the biggest understatement of the year.

Through the speaker Sicheng sighs in relief. “Really? _Awesome._ I’m actually crashing at Jungwoo’s for the night; I can be there in, like, ten minutes, if that’s cool?”

The hand that had been gripping Jaehyun’s scalp at the beginning of the call tightens its hold as he forces himself to grin and reply like a normal human being who totally _isn’t_ about to mcfreakin lose it. “That’s perfect,” he lies.

“I’ll leave the door unlocked—see you then!” The words come out rushed as he hangs up, not having the time to wait for Sicheng to respond. The _Kill Bill_ sirens are going off in Jaehyun’s head as he surveys the mess around him.

Upon hanging up, he practically slams the phone on the table and begins to clean faster than he ever had in his natural born life. He heads to the living room first, folding the mess of blankets Johnny rudely abandoned on the couch. He places the fluffed square on the end of their hideous Goodwill find before moving on. Next, he jogs into the kitchen to shove any stray dishes into their broken dishwasher if not to clean it to then at least hide it from Sicheng’s wondering eyes. Before fixing the dining room table, he dumps about a million paper plates and styrofoam cups into their trashcan under the sink, cursing Mark Lee’s stupidly adorable otter face the entire time.

The stacks of valentines on the table are the last thing he deals with, stupidly enough. His brain isn’t properly functioning when he starts gathering the papers in his arms, holding them close to his chest. All he can think about is the fact that _Sicheng will be here any minute and this place is a fucking wreck. It looks like I share this cardboard box with a kindergartener with all this damn craft paper I have all over the place. I don’t even know the last time I swept or lit a candle or rearranged the letters on the fridge to not say “FUCK.” Ohgodohgodohgod._

While internally battling himself over the apartment’s hierarchy of needs, he expertly slides the cut-out hearts and leftover scraps to the top of their refrigerator, then takes a second to scatter the primary-colored letters on the fridge to make them read anything but the f-bomb.

He's finished shimmying into a clean pair of basketball shorts when he hears the unmistakable opening of the front door. There’s a possibility it could be Mark, but with how often the younger stays at his boyfriend’s house, it’s highly unlikely. Jaehyun checks his reflection one last time in the mirror to fix his monstrosity of fringe before jetting back into the kitchen to greet his guest. He braces himself for all that is about to come next (read: the irreparable changes he’s about to make to his and Sicheng’s relationship.)

Just as Jaehyun had predicted, it’s none other than Sicheng in the kitchen, appearing more similar to an expensive piece of art amongst the peeling green wallpaper and crooked picture frames than a human being. His hair is both the color of cocoa and shaggy, dipping into his eyes ever so slightly. Similar to Jaehyun, he’s dressed casually. Black fitted sweatpants adorn his long limbs along with an ancient t-shirt from what looks like his high school days. There’s a plain black backpack dangling off his shoulder, making his beauty seem that much more effortless. It only takes him a half a second to register Jaehyun’s presence in the tiny space but when he does, he smiles brightly. The expression causes his facial features to glow; it’s contagious.

Jaehyun unsurprisingly finds himself grinning back. “Hey,” he greets. His fingers unconsciously come to rub the back of his neck as he beckons the other to sit at the table. “You can make yourself at home, just give me a second to grab my book and notes.” Sicheng nods, plopping himself down into the chair the blonde had been in only ten minutes prior.

Before he can think too heavily on the situation, Jaehyun sprints back into his room to grab said materials. He decides to take his entire backpack instead of wasting more time sorting through his disorganized shit then makes his way out to the dining area. With how much running around he’s done recently he starts to feel like a rat running through a maze who’s finally struck a dead end. Maybe that life would be better than the one he’s in now, where he as to _actually_ confront his feelings. Shaking his head at his own cowardice, Jaehyun’s socked feet are treading the way he previously came when a familiar scent hits his nose. _Is that…grilled cheese?_

Without trying to, his pace quickens. He’s standing a foot away from Sicheng, watching the younger male unpack a bulky brown paper sack out of his own bag. There are no textbooks or notebooks in sight and Jaehyun’s stomach drops. _Oh, God._

Whether Sicheng feels the burn of Jaehyun’s gaze searing into his back or not, he continues to rearrange the table as if it were his own house. He digs deeper into his backpack and pulls out two bottles of chocolate milk. How he was able to cram so much stuff in there, Jaehyun has no idea. He feels his eyes widen further in awe as Sicheng brings his nimble hands back to the grease-stained paper sack. The brown-haired male rips it open easily enough, gently pulling out one grilled cheese and then another. Jaehyun doesn’t have to move an inch closer to know that the sandwiches are from his favorite deli two blocks from the university. He, Sicheng, Kun, and Jungwoo had spent many afternoons there shooting the shit and quizzing each other while stuffing their faces with various sandwiches. But, at the end of the day, Jaehyun’s favorite was _always_ their grilled cheese. It’s a food that comforts him immensely during midterms, finals, and _especially_ emotional turmoil.

“Where’s your book?” Jaehyun asks into the silence of the room. His voice is loud against the silence that blankets them. “What’s with the food?”

The only sound besides the ancient apartment heater is their breathing; Sicheng startles at his friend’s sudden reimmergence. Heat flushes his cheeks, ears, and neck a warm pink. He immediately stops messing with the food, instead meeting Jaehyun’s eyes from across the room. He takes a deep breath, looks down, then draws his attention back towards the other. In an act of courage, he swallows his fears and smiles tightly. “Tomorrow’s your birthday, isn’t it?” he whispers. “You were born on Valentine’s day.”

The question is unexpected; the statement following it is even more unexpected. Expectedly enough, Jaehyun’s eyes bug out of his skull like some sort of cartoon caricature. He gulps, wondering how this day had gotten so strange so fast. “Yes? I mean, _yes._ Tomorrow is my birthday,” he pauses. One of his eyebrows raises comically. “How did you know?” Because in all honesty, Jaehyun had kind of forgotten about it, himself. He’d never really been big on birthdays, in the first place. The addition of this so-called romantic crisis on the most romance-filled day of the year has taken top priority in his brain. He had no business worrying about his birthday when a painfully single Sicheng existed.

Sicheng shrugs. “I remember from last year,” he admits. “Mark was the one who originally told me way back when, though.”

“Sounds about right,” Jaehyun snorts. Unlike his elder roommate, Mark adored birthdays. It was one of the cute things Jaehyun liked about him. Until now. “But why are we celebrating my birthday? I thought you wanted to study.” He wrinkles his nose in confusion, eyeing the food on the table suspiciously. “And, it’s technically not until tomorrow.”

Sicheng rolls his eyes, reminding Jaehyun eerily of Johnny for a moment. “I _know_. If you would just let me explain, I’d tell you why.” He points to the chair across from him, the place where Johnny had been earlier. The potted plant between them makes eye contact awkward once Sicheng joins him in sitting down and before Jaehyun can even _think_ to move the flower himself, disaster strikes like a sudden clap of thunder.

A pink paper heart tumbles out of the vase the instant Sicheng’s hand inches it over. To Jaehyun’s fear and relief, he doesn’t seem surprised by it in the slightest. He continues to scoot the plant out of the way until it’s safely at the end of the table. The spread of sandwiches and chocolate milk in front of them is now obscured by the construction paper craft that’s thankfully flipped over. Jaehyun doesn’t have to flip it to know what it says, though. He knows _exactly_ what the chicken-scratch burned into the heart by Hell’s inferno in Johnny Seo’s handwriting reads.

His body moves in slow motion. He can’t pick it up fast enough because Sicheng’s hand is already there, on the table, using his thumbnail to expertly flick it on its backside. For one odd moment, Jaehyun can’t even see Sicheng’s reaction. He must’ve blacked out in a fit of white, hot panic because while he’s praying to whatever God above that _this isn’t fucking happening_ Sicheng has already taken the liberty to read the valentine aloud.

“I love you because I’m gay.”

The hitch in Jaehyun’s breath is enough to startle Sicheng a second time. He casts his gaze from the paper in his hand to the other man’s face. His complexion is doughy, but sallower than Sicheng’s used to seeing it; not to mention the accompanying terror glistening in his normally peaceful almond eyes. He can practically _hear_ the gears turning in Jaehyun’s head. At first, he thinks this juvenile letter of sorts is addressed to whoever the homeowner has a crush on (read: not Sicheng.) It’s when he sees a single droplet of sweat bead down Jaehyun’s dewy forehead that something within him clicks. A second passes before the Chinese male really connects the dots; another passes as he rereads the crooked sticker smacked in the center of the heart. The handwriting is unfamiliar, definitely not Jaehyun’s, which is why he thinks nothing of it the first time he sees it. Only after witnessing the real-life effects of anxiety was over his classmate’s face in front of him does Sicheng realize that maybe, just _maybe_ the valentine is for him. The corners of his lips inch upward.

“I didn’t really want to study today,” the younger confesses. He doesn’t reach across the table to touch Jaehyun yet, afraid he might send him into cardiac arrest with the gentlest of touches. “I brought you your favorite food on the day before Valentine’s day, your _birthday_ , because I wanted to be nice to you, Jaehyun. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I _really_ like you. And I knew that if I didn’t do it today, right this second, I never would.” Sicheng stops to gauge his reaction. “Because I originally planned to do this all tomorrow when I had properly showered and prepared more than just store-bought chocolate milk,” he sighs. “But then my mom called and asked me to take my brother to the doctor tomorrow, the one day of the year I _really_ needed to myself, but it’s not like I can say no to her. Not after all she does for me.” He pushes the loose fringe out of his face and rests his elbow on the table, catching Jaehyun’s eyes again. “So I put on my big boy pants and floored it here. I mean, I drove around ten different neighborhoods and down seven different side streets before even thinking call you to reschedule, but by that point I knew there was no going back. I’d chicken out if I took a raincheck.”

Jaehyun is silent. He wants to say something— _anything_ —but he can’t. His mouth won’t move, his mind can’t recover from this critical hit. At his very core, he’s floored. Never in a million years did he see this coming. Not even in his wildest fantasies had he thought Sicheng could ever like him back. Everything about this one-sided conversation is rocking his fucking socks. But, most of all the fact that Johnny’d been right all along deeply unsettles him. He momentarily sets that thought aside, though, in favor of the pretty boy watching him so softly from across the table. He takes a deep breath and does what he does best around Sicheng; he smiles.

The shift in his expression eases the brown-haired man greatly. His fear is laid to rest more so when Jaehyun finally starts talking. “I’ve been working on making you a valentine with these dumbass stickers all day and I couldn’t figure out just one thing I like best about you because I like basically _everything_ about you so Johnny got annoyed and made one for me as an example to show me how ‘easy’ it’s supposed to be,” he blurts, using air quotes to express the ludicrousy of his older friend’s words. “When you called I was still in the middle of trying to figure out what to say. You said you’d be over in ten minutes so I had to shove all the arts and crafts shit in different crevices of the apartment but I guess I missed that eyesore Seo stuck in the flowers.” He huffs, plucking the valentine out of Sicheng’s hands. Up close, it’s even more lopsided and hideous. Johnny’s handwriting is worse than most doctors Jaehyun knows.

Sicheng laughs loudly, ripping the heart right back out of Jaehyun’s hands. He intertwines his fingers with the other boy’s, squeezing the fist their interlocked hands make tightly.  “Well, _I_ don’t think it’s an eyesore,” he starts. He starts fanning himself with the pink paper playfully, grinning toothily all the while. “I think it’s pretty cute.”

Jaehyun wrinkles his nose again. “Yeah, well I think it belongs in the trash,” he replies, using his free hand to attempt to pluck it out of Sicheng’s hands. Sicheng, naturally more graceful, easily keeps the valentine out of Jaehyun’s reach, snorting every time an attempt to steal it is made.

“The _trash_?” he gasps. “Are you kidding? I’m framing this thing.”

“Trash doesn’t belong on the wall, though,” Jaehyun pouts. He gives up entirely on their game, settling on unwrapping his birthday grilled cheese.

The look Sicheng gives him as he unwraps their hands to pop open the chocolate milk is one that mimics the disapproving glare of their freshman year AP professor right before he threw chalk at Johnny’s sleeping figure in the third row. The day after that class Johnny dropped the science major and switched to arts; in this moment Jaehyun feels the similar urge to get up and walk away from Sicheng’s discontent stare.

“It’s not garbage, Jae. It’s a starting point,” Sicheng says. He makes a show of delicately placing the valentine in his backpack. He pats it gingerly through the fabric. “It’ll also be a really fucking funny icebreaker at parties.”

Jaehyun nods, snorting. He leans on his elbow to get the best view possible of the living, breathing escaped MOMA exhibit in front of him. “I can’t argue with you there.”

Sicheng knocks his foot underneath the table. “You shouldn’t argue with me anywhere, stupid cupid.”

“Stupid cupid? _Seriously_? What is this, 1958?”

“No, but it _will_ be time for you to ask me to be your boyfriend after you finish that sandwich.”

Jaehyun chokes (read: he finishes the whole meal in record time and becomes a happily taken man before sundown).

**Author's Note:**

> this was ......... A Trip to write so i hope u guys enjoyed reading!! pls feel free to talk to me on twt/cc or tell me your opinions!! i'd love to know what u think!! 
> 
> sidenote: jaehyun reminds me of this bread/grilled cheese plush i have so. that's where That part came from idk what his actual favorite food is and im too lazy to look up an interview where he says it oop 
> 
> thank u for ur time , comments/kudos are always welcome!! thank !!!!!!
> 
> twt + cc: m4rk1ee (my blue bird account is Locked but i'll accept any requests i'm just trying to keep locals off my account bc of the irls i interact with oof)


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